COUNCIL leader Chris Robbins has described a meeting with Mayor of London Boris Johnson about the lack of police in the borough as “constructive.”
The pair met at City Hall on Friday for a meeting during which Cllr Robbins asked Mr Johnson, who chairs the Met Police Authority, the body responsible for finalising police numbers, for an extra 120 officers for the borough.
Although no firm guarantee of more officers was given, the two agreed to a series of meetings between City Hall and council officers to discuss the issue in more depth.
Cllr Robbins said: “This meeting was an extremely important step in achieving our aim of getting more police officers so we can cut knife crime and drug dealing and make our streets safer.”
Cllr Robbins believes Waltham Forest has been short-changed in its number of officers, because it is classed as an outer London borough.
It has similar crime profiles to Newham, Hackney and Tower Hamlets, all of which have 200 more police officers than Waltham Forest.
More than 1,600 residents have signed a petition in support of the campaign, which has the backing of all three political groups on the council.
Cllr Robbins said: “I made it clear to the Mayor the overwhelming strength of feeling from residents on our campaign for more police and a fairer deal for our borough."
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